In today's high-tech, fast-paced, hyper-connected world, people are spending more and more time on the internet to complete more of their daily activities such as online banking and shopping. The convenience afforded by the access and availability of the online world is, however, not without drawbacks. This increased access has brought with it an unparalleled growth in online fraudulent activity.
Generally, the approach to dealing with fraudulent activity has been to employ identity-based authentication systems to verify the identity of users before granting access to an access-controlled resource. One goal of such systems is to accurately determine user identity so that an unauthorized party cannot gain access. The system achieves this by applying an authentication method that requires a user response. The system aware of a correct response verifies the user response before granting access to the resource.
As will be appreciated, many systems employ a number of different authentication methods relating typically to something the user knows (e.g., password), something the user possesses (e.g., one-time passcode token), or something the user is (e.g., biometric). Each one of these authentication methods may be suitable at various times. However, existing systems may often select an inappropriate authentication method on a particular occasion. For example, the authentication method may be unsuitable given the nature of the request by the user. The authentication method may be too weak in certain instances due to the nature of the request.
Alternatively, as will also be appreciated, many systems may not select an authentication method at all in connection with some requests. For example, the systems may employ single sign-on (SSO) capabilities in which a user is allowed to log in once without being prompted to log in again. This may, however, present a problem if a first request for which authentication was approved is more begnin than a subsequent second request that is more sensitive.
There, therefore, exists a need for a solution to the above problems.